Harnesses are used to intercouple a user with some form of safety line such as a rope or cable. The most common type of harness used in outdoor sports is coupled around a user's waist and legs. In various outdoor sports, a harness is used during ascent and descent of technical terrain to enable a user to intercouple with a rope. For example, in roped climbing-related activities, an individual will generally wear a harness to provide a coupling point for the rope. Likewise, during roped descents and rappels, a harness is necessary to facilitate the controlled rope descent.
Various types of harnesses are used based on desired performance characteristics corresponding to a particular activity. These characteristics include weight, adjustment range, usability, safety, strength, etc. Most rock climbing and rappelling type harnesses include a waist belt and a set of leg loops interconnected at a frontal location. The waist belt and leg loops must meet certain industry-certified strength parameters while also providing a minimum amount of comfort to the user. For example, the waist belt and leg loops generally include wide regions designed to distribute forces across the corresponding anatomical regions of the user.
In many applications, the primary performance characteristic of a harness is the overall weight. The evolution of harnesses has therefore been primarily toward lighter-weight systems, including various stitching and fabric selection techniques to minimize weight while maintaining minimum strength and comfort. For example, heavier materials are often stitched between regions of lightweight narrow materials to maintain comfort but minimize weight. Unfortunately, the technique of stitching multiple materials together still requires heavy stitching to intercouple the regions while maintaining necessary strength.
Therefore, there is a need in the industry for a non-stitch based system for reducing the overall weight of a harness or other load bearing strap type applications.